Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 273: We Faked A Prank Video | Ear Biscuits Ep.273

Episode Date: February 1, 2021

We have a confession to make. Listen to R&L reveal a never-before-told secret about one of their old videos and what made them retire from prank videos for good on this episode of Ear Biscuits! To l...earn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 This, this, this, this is Mythical. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.
Starting point is 00:00:24 Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Link. And I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting,
Starting point is 00:00:47 we're gonna be doing a couple of things. One, we're gonna be exploring a internet phenomenon that I already know that most of you are familiar with, but we're gonna be breaking it down. And we're going to be revealing a secret that I don't think that we've revealed before about a video that we made a long time ago. We're coming clean about something dishonest
Starting point is 00:01:13 that we did for a video. And we tend to be honest. We tend to try to be honest. I think this is gonna be good to get this off my chest. I can't, I mean, if it does come up, it pops up in my brain. Little shame. There's a little shame.
Starting point is 00:01:34 Yeah. Because of it not being discussed. So we're gonna bring it out into the open. I will say, just in case we're doing something that we often do, which is we think that we're saying something for the first time and we actually, oh guys, like five years ago, you said this on Ear Biscuits.
Starting point is 00:01:51 Our memories, it isn't that our memories are bad, it's that you essentially have just an open channel directly to all our experiences because we talk about everything that we do and think. And so- There's a difference between remembering something and remembering if you've talked about it. Right.
Starting point is 00:02:09 You know, it's like- So we apologize if we've already come clean about this. And I don't think I'm, I mean, there are certain people that have been a part of my life through the years who they've been the, I forgot, they've forgotten that they've told me this. So they're telling me this in the exact same way. I mean, my mom does that a lot now.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Yeah, well, it happens as they age. You know, I was talking to her this morning, she had her second cataract surgery. And this was the seventh time she's told you about the second cataract surgery? Well, she's told me about five different times, even though her right eye, there's something else wrong with it
Starting point is 00:02:50 that makes it hard for her to see out of, they've decided to do the surgery, to remove the cataract in that eye anyway, because who knows, in the future, there might be something else that can fix that problem and then the cataract will already be removed and you never know if it will increase her range of vision in that eye anyway.
Starting point is 00:03:12 And what I just told you, she has told me for the first time, five times. And it's not, I don't, I mean, maybe it's an age- It's what she's thinking about. Maybe it's an age thing, but it's like, it's the one thing that when you start talking about, well, I had this done to my eye and I'm getting it done to my other eye,
Starting point is 00:03:28 it's just the thing that you talk about. And when you tell everybody that you talk about, well, you know, I'm having this procedure done, it's part of it. And then, I mean, I guess it's a good sign that I've talked to her enough that I've heard the same thing five times because I've been talking to her about her eye.
Starting point is 00:03:45 Good news is she's got the second eye done and everything went well. We still don't know because it was yesterday if she's realizing any of the benefits or who knows, maybe in the future as technology develops, there'll be something that can fix the other problem. And then the cataract will already be removed.
Starting point is 00:04:07 I don't know if I said that. Yeah, yeah, I like that. That's good. That was a nice reference. So yeah, how's your mind? Do you correct her? Do you correct her when she- You know what? Oh yeah, you told me that.
Starting point is 00:04:18 Yeah, yeah. The second time I was like, yeah, you told me that. Third time, I don't think I said anything. Oh, wow. I think you gotta say it every time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you told me that. Third time, I don't think I said anything. Oh, wow. I think you gotta say it every time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you told me that. Well, it's just good to- What's the update?
Starting point is 00:04:31 It's just good to have a conversation. What's the latest? You know, I think success is just having a conversation where she's processing and, you know. I try to ask questions that will get a different answer. Yeah, well, speaking of old people with bad memories, I was on Facebook recently. That's nice.
Starting point is 00:04:52 So you, and this is a choice because this is not a habit. I mean, I'll find myself on Twitter and I didn't even realize that it was happening, but that never happens on Facebook. I do not go on Facebook. I have no, I don't have realize that it was happening. But that never happens on Facebook. I do not go on Facebook. I have no, I don't have it on my phone. Do you? I have it on my phone and the reason that,
Starting point is 00:05:14 well, I've had it on my phone for years, but I do not, I'm not a Facebook user. It sounds like it's like a drug. Well, you can make that argument. I do not participate. However, recently when I was trying to contact people to be a part of Jessie's birthday video, like I was spanning like family and friends
Starting point is 00:05:39 and like old friends. Gotta go to Facebook. The only way I can get in touch with some of her old friends was Facebook. So, but one of the things that I, one of the reasons that I do go to Facebook at times, and I don't know what this says about me, but there's a couple of people that,
Starting point is 00:05:55 now, first of all, if we go back in time to when we were first getting on Facebook, of course, we were individuals on Facebook. And before you could have like a Facebook page that was a brand, the Rhett and Link page, the mythical page that we have now, we basically used our personal Facebook pages for promotional purposes, right?
Starting point is 00:06:17 Like back during the early days, like writing the Facebook song, posting that and that kind of thing. Yeah. And we, in the same way that we were using Twitter in the early days, everybody was using Twitter and Facebook. The only point of reference when those new social media platforms came out at the time
Starting point is 00:06:35 was MySpace. And the whole point of MySpace was to have as many friends as you could possibly have. And like you were ranked by how many friends you had. And so we were like, oh, of course, I'm on Twitter. That's why you followed everybody back on Twitter. In fact, we both had this thing installed on Twitter where we would automatically send a message
Starting point is 00:06:54 to someone who followed us and automatically follow them back. Which rendered my Twitter, that aspect of my Twitter useless. And by the way, we're hearing this very deep vibration sound because somebody's doing some work, it's like somewhere in the neighborhood.
Starting point is 00:07:12 I don't know if you're gonna be able to hear it in the final mix, but if you do hear an occasional that's what that is, it's not one of our stomachs, but we're gonna do our best to get rid of it. So I went back a couple of years ago and I unfollowed a whole lot of people on Twitter because of that whole point, like following four or 5,000 people on Twitter,
Starting point is 00:07:35 it's pointless, right? So I was like, I wanna follow people that I'm actually not just wanna be nice to, I wanna hear what they have to say. And so, but where am I going with this? So what that means is that Facebook for me, I wanna be nice to, I wanna hear what they have to say. But where am I going with this? So what that means is that Facebook for me, there was like, I think you could have 5,000 friends as a limit.
Starting point is 00:07:53 We both got to that place. And then I've just maintained this Facebook account. And when I go on there, there's a couple of people that I was friends with, that I wasn't really friends with in real life. I think they were in North Carolina that throughout the past four years of the Trump presidency, seeing what they say about the situation has been-
Starting point is 00:08:18 These are friends of friends. These are not fans. Correct, correct, correct. Okay, okay. These are people that I was connected to in real life in some way. Seeing the way they processed the Trump presidency was just a fascinating sort of like, I felt like it was my personal tie
Starting point is 00:08:37 to a very different perspective than the perspective that I have about everything that happened over the past four years. You can dip your toe in, learn a little something, and then take your toe out. But I'm not a Facebook debater. I'm not gonna get in there and do the comments and do that whole thing.
Starting point is 00:08:50 But I go and I see the people debating. Lurk, you lurk. And so that's why I would go back. Well, one of the things that I have noticed, especially this year is ever since Facebook has now done the thing where they've essentially, if you're looking at Facebook on your phone, they've adopted the same practice that Instagram has,
Starting point is 00:09:14 and even TikTok where if you click on the video button on Facebook, it brings up a full screen vertical video that plays and then the next one just comes up and plays or you can swipe and the next one comes up and plays. So basically the same interaction that you have with those kinds of things. So you kind of get into this loop. And this is not a new phenomenon,
Starting point is 00:09:42 but it's something that I sort of rediscovered. And then I was just like, I think we should talk about this on Ear Biscuits because it brought up some interesting things for us. And that is the phenomenon of prank videos on Facebook combined with the requirement for videos to be at least three minutes in order to get monetized. Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:06 Now there are- Has rendered what? A crazy phenomenon. It has created this interesting intersection of people who are both making a prank video, but also, okay, trying to meet the three minute time limit, trying to get to that three minute time limit so that they can monetize it.
Starting point is 00:10:27 But they're also like most prank videos, if not 99% of prank videos on the internet are fake. So if you take a prank video that is fake, and then you require these people who are not professional actors, and in my estimation, don't have a lot of insight into human behavior in general, like what normal rational human behavior would be.
Starting point is 00:10:49 There's a self-exposing phenomenon. Having to meet that time limit exposes the nature of the thinking and the acting and the execution in a way that just is fascinating. So. Okay, it lays it bare, okay. And I have a case study video. I have a case study video
Starting point is 00:11:07 that I kind of want to lead you through and a couple of other ones that I can just talk to you about, but I want to show you one. I find it interesting that you went on Facebook to do some political lurking. Yeah. But then a prank video pops up and then you just found yourself watching it
Starting point is 00:11:24 is what happened. Well, I'm not proud of this. And my guess would be that this never happens to you, but I will get caught in just sort of, I'll just get caught in a video watching sort of just binge where there's nothing satisfying at all. I feel like it's the equivalent of being at the slot machine.
Starting point is 00:11:48 You're like a toddler in front of a screen. It's like, oh, this color's moving. I can't, my eyes are looking at it. Well, it's just, you know, and I think this happens most often on- And it is designed this way. Of course, yeah. I would think that this applies to,
Starting point is 00:12:02 this is why they made the interface this way. It applies to most people, but like TikTok is the perfect example of this. It's just like, you just kind of go into this vegetative state and just watch a bunch of videos, but now every other platform is trying to do the exact same thing. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:17 And I fall victim to it. And I dislike myself when that happens, but at least I discovered something that I thought would make a good Ear Biscuit. So at least, you know, at least we're monetizing it. So you watch this video and you're gonna, okay. I can see where this is going, but Rhett has not shown me this video
Starting point is 00:12:38 and I want to see it. Well, you shall. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. All right. Crack open that laptop and let's go to Facebook.
Starting point is 00:13:05 Okay. All right, so I can see the title of this thing right now. Thief steals bike and get big karma. With the angry face emoji. Thief steals bike and get big karma. That's grammatically- Not correct, but I don't think it matters. Just forget about it.
Starting point is 00:13:21 And I don't even think, is thief spelled incorrectly? I before E except after H. Yeah, thief is spelled incorrectly. Are you sure? Yeah. I'm really bad at that. T-H-I-E-F is how you spell thief. T-H-I-E-F, yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah, so thief is incorrect.
Starting point is 00:13:40 Thief is incorrect. Steals bike and get big karma. Is not, that's not grammar. Okay, again, that there's more than just that that's wrong with this, okay? So I'm just gonna let, I'll let the beginning unfold and we'll kind of get into the basic idea. Okay.
Starting point is 00:13:59 We're gonna clip this right there. That's not going anywhere. Let me tighten it up. Okay, so it's a guy.aining a bike to a chain link fence. He's in a ghillie suit. Is that what you call that? Yeah. I'm gonna get down.
Starting point is 00:14:14 Oh, right there beside the bike? Yeah, so he's strapping a rope. Do you think it's gonna work? We're gonna find out. And the girl filming is like, do you think it's gonna work? Okay, 30 minutes later. So he's strapped this bike to a big rope.
Starting point is 00:14:26 To a chain link fence at the head. Here comes a guy running. Oh, it's a bike. This is the guy. And he looks like a fake bush right beside the bike. Right beside it. It's like he's never seen a bike before. Now, okay, so now he's checking it.
Starting point is 00:14:40 He's touching the bike seat now. He's touching. He's testing the tires out. Yeah, there's air in the tires, buddy. He keeps touching the bike. He's checking the bike seat now. He's touching. He's testing the tires out. Yeah, there's air in the tires, buddy. He keeps touching the bike. He's checking the front tire. Let me see how it rolls. Oh, he's checking the sturdiness of the bike.
Starting point is 00:14:54 Okay, so he's walking away from it. But now he's got to deal with the existential sort of crisis that he's having. He's got his hands on his hips and he's walking around. He's scratching his head and then scratching his chin. Like the classic like cartoon capturing of like inner turmoil. Yeah, this is the worst.
Starting point is 00:15:15 It's like he's talking to himself. Yeah, he's dealing with, he's thinking about the consequences of what's stealing this bike. I mean, he knows he's tested it. No, no, no, no, he's thinking about what a person who would steal a bike but would need to take a long time to do it would do. Someone who needs to take-
Starting point is 00:15:29 He's looking up at the sky and touching, he keeps stroking his chin and looking up at the sky. Yeah, right, okay. Yeah, right. This is such an insult to intelligence. Now he's talking to himself. Look, his arms are out, he's like, ah, I mean, there's no one here.
Starting point is 00:15:44 What? He's, is he talking to God? Yeah. Oh, yeah, and this, and this. What is he, I mean, he's like doing a soliloquy. Here he goes, here he goes. He's getting on the bike. Here he goes. Hold on, there's still a chain. And there we go, ghillie suit just strapped it on.
Starting point is 00:16:01 Here we go, and look, the way that he even starts the bike is a ridiculous way. Okay, here we go, all rightie suit just strapped it on. Here we go, and look, the way that he even starts the bike is a ridiculous way. Okay, here we go, all right. Don't wanna get too fast, because I know that this rope is tied to it. So then, and boom. Oh, oh my gosh. So he did stunt work.
Starting point is 00:16:15 The stunt, here we go, listen to what he says. You okay, buddy? You okay, what happened? What's this on your bike? Oh, it's like it's not your bike. Yeah, it's because it was tied up because of my bike. Yeah, what are you doing, huh? So he's chasing.
Starting point is 00:16:29 Look, look. And he also runs across the bush. Okay, all right. All right, so that was it. Three minutes, 23 seconds of pure, unadulterated prankage. Like, totally not fake, totally not acted. Let me first just explore a couple of things because one of the things that was very fascinating to me
Starting point is 00:16:54 was the comments, right? Because I was like. Well, I will say, please let the comments say, my intelligence is insulted. Any, like a six year old could watch this and pick up on the nonverbal cues and say, this is not how anyone acts. Now I can't tell how many views this has.
Starting point is 00:17:17 When I watch it on my phone, I can see, I think it was like over 50 million views. I think it was like 80 something million views, just to give you an idea of how many people have watched this. Wow. 324,000 people have reacted to it with a like or a love or whatever. 40,000 people have decided to comment on it.
Starting point is 00:17:35 Okay, please. Please restore my faith in humanity. All right. Mark says, the bike thief is not a good actor. Okay, okay. Even sounds like he's wearing a microphone. A real thief would have taken the bike in a second. 433 people seem to agree.
Starting point is 00:17:54 Another comment here. This is all a lie. A thief does not think that much to steal something. Was he so blind that he did not see the red rope, the carabiner attached to the bike since he inspected the bike for a long time? And finally, a camouflage net is visible at that distance. First of all, as some people have corrected this guy,
Starting point is 00:18:15 the carabiner was placed on there after the fact, right? Because the inspection- Right as he was about to take off, the bush comes to life and snaps it on. OMG, your videos are so annoying because you think we're all stupid and believe they're real. Ah, if you're going to waste all this time in making them, try to make them a little more believable.
Starting point is 00:18:36 Is it possible that this lasts more than three minutes and the guy with the car was there all the time watching while the one who takes the bike shows that there is no one. There is no logic. That doesn't, there's no logic to that comment. That's an ironic comment. Okay, so yeah. I actually feel better about that.
Starting point is 00:18:53 I mean, the fact that- I don't and I'll tell you why in a second, but go ahead. Oh. I mean, at least the top comments call it what it is and are seen through this thing. Now, none that you read have the insight that we have as to why this is happening because of money. But I feel better because of this.
Starting point is 00:19:17 People are seeing it. But the system is still rewarding this guy's efforts. He's got a lot of Paul energy, I will also say that. The system is still rewarding this guy's efforts. He's got a lot of Paul energy. I will also say that. The guy in the ghillie suit. Paul energy? Like Paul Brothers energy. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:19:33 Just as a side note. I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult to the Paul Brothers or to the guy. Here's why I don't feel good about it. Because taking the time to point out something so obvious is not something to be proud of. And it's not something to feel good about. Yeah, yes, you're right.
Starting point is 00:19:59 I would feel even worse about humanity if there were people who believed it. And it doesn't seem that anybody really believes that this was a real thing that happened. But it's almost like there's this thing that they're also implying, which is, you know what? If this guy was a better actor, I would have appreciated this video more.
Starting point is 00:20:18 And that's the thing that is super interesting to me is the fact that, and this is kind of what I want to explore, is the idea that this is a genre of video. Now, first of all, the whole fake prank thing, which we'll get to in a second and how that personally applies to us and what we think about that and what the motivations are for faking a prank.
Starting point is 00:20:40 But again, when combined with this time length requirement, now I'm gonna talk about two other videos. In fact, the two videos that came up after this video that were exactly the same thing, just packaged differently. The first one was, there was this family that was outside and they were working on a car and they had a pair of jeans. Okay.
Starting point is 00:21:07 That they had stuffed with something to make them look like legs. Okay. And then this guy, like a middle-aged dude, like took his shoes off and put them on the end of these filled up jeans and then put the jeans underneath the car like he was working on it. Scarecrow mechanic.
Starting point is 00:21:24 Then he got on the other side of the car so that when he talked, it sounded like his voice was coming from underneath the car. And as soon as they get it set up, a woman comes outside, like the mom of the family or whatever, and at that point, it was obvious that it was fake because the timing of the way she came out.
Starting point is 00:21:42 There was no cut? No, it was just like, okay, we're ready, and then they just whip pan and she's like coming out of the way she came out. There was no cut? No, it was just like, okay, we're ready, and then they just whip pan, and she's like coming out of the house. And she's like, okay, I've got the tools for the car! And then she goes up to the guy, and then he's yelling, he's like, give me the wrench! And like, she takes the wrench,
Starting point is 00:21:58 and instead of like handing it to him, she just kind of like tosses it under the car, you know, to kind of play along with the idea that, oh, I would believe that he's really under there. First of all, the longer that his fake legs just sit there, not moving at all and are both right next to each other and the two feet are kind of like propped to the side, the more obvious it is that he's not real.
Starting point is 00:22:16 And then of course, there's a person in the driver's seat who takes her foot off of the brake and then it rolls over the legs and crushes his legs. And then she's going nuts. But the funny thing is, is she doesn't even look back at the fake leg. She gets mad at the woman in the car. It's just, again, it's a study of human behavior
Starting point is 00:22:37 that reveals that people don't understand human behavior. Like, you know- Acting's not easy. Well, and now we're not just talking about writing, we're talking about, I mean, talking about acting, we're talking about writing, right? Cause you gotta plan this a little bit. So, you know, one of the things that keeps people
Starting point is 00:22:52 in a good story, one of the reasons that you like the movies and the TV shows that you like is because the way people react to unbelievable situations is incredibly believable and relatable. It might not be that it makes a lot of sense that people might end up on an island like they did in Lost and not be able to tell. There's unrealistic things that happen,
Starting point is 00:23:15 but the people's reactions to the situation are believable and relatable. And that's what doesn't happen in any of these videos. A third video, super simple. There's a woman, she, and again, these videos. A third video, super simple, there's a woman, she, and again, these videos came up, they were served to me, Mr. I'm watching fake prank videos on Facebook with a vengeance.
Starting point is 00:23:33 They were served up to me because Facebook apparently understood, oh, he likes these fake videos. So the next one- Because you watched all of the first one. Yeah, the retention time was full because I was studying it. You watched the second one. And then yeah, the retention time was full because I was studying it. You watched the second one. And then the third one comes up and there's a woman
Starting point is 00:23:49 standing knee deep in a lake next to a dock. And there is a man behind her and he has an alligator head on a fishing line and he puts it in the water and he's like, hey, how are the reservations coming? Like she's making reservations on the phone. She's like- While standing in water? Standing in water, facing away from him.
Starting point is 00:24:08 Okay. And of course, I don't know who the person is who's filming this interaction and why she's not paying attention to them. Let's not think about that. And she says, oh yeah, it's taking a second. And then he's like, well, you need to be watchful when you're in the water
Starting point is 00:24:22 because there's all kinds of stuff in lakes, like sea snakes, he literally said that, alligators, and she's like, alligators? Alligators are my number one fear, and you know that. But she's not turning around to see him. So he has to maintain, again, to get to the three minute limit, which I didn't even talk about,
Starting point is 00:24:42 the way they stalled that mechanic video is she kept handing him tools. Oh my gosh. It just took for, they have to pick the moment in which they stall the video to keep you watching to get to that three minute mark. In the gator video, it's literally just the husband moving the gator around behind her
Starting point is 00:25:00 and continuing the conversation like, how are the reservations coming? For three minutes! Do you still not like gators? She sees the gator and freaks out. Whatever. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic?
Starting point is 00:25:16 Well, for us, and I'm gonna guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests.
Starting point is 00:25:33 And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. So I believe we've said this, but it bears saying again, you don't get paid by Facebook for your videos unless they break the three minute mark. Yeah. It's created a prank monster, but it's, well, you'd think it would expose pranks. That's the point.
Starting point is 00:26:01 That's what's disheartening. I think that's the underlying point is that Facebook doesn't care about this because they make money. And apparently the people making the videos don't care. It's not like they take it as a personal insult that you find it fake. They just go and make the next one. They have embraced, my theory is that the people
Starting point is 00:26:23 who are making these videos have embraced the fact that, yeah, of course it's fake. You know, I'm doing my best to make you believe that it's fake and maybe there's a certain small sliver of the population that's not that smart that does believe that this is real, but we're kind of all agreeing with the fact that, yeah, this is fake, it's not that big of a deal,
Starting point is 00:26:43 but you watched it and I made money, so I'm gonna make the next one. And if people dislike the video enough, I mean, these algorithms do take that into account, but the main thing is, if people are gonna watch a whole video, there's no denying the fact that it kept people on the platform and it takes a lot to override that.
Starting point is 00:27:05 And they're not gonna out, they're not gonna program the algorithm to outweigh likes to dislikes or ratio or however they look at that to whether you watched or not. You know, it's the principle of with Netflix, it's a different thing, but it's a similar principle that Netflix just started showing you recommended things
Starting point is 00:27:29 that you think you'd like to watch and leaning on that instead of the queue. When Netflix first came around, it was all about the queue. It was all about, I wanna watch this next, this next, this next, and you would just go through it. But there was, the discovery mechanisms were, you know, this next, and you would just go through it. But there was the discovery mechanisms were, you know, they had a long way to develop and they since have.
Starting point is 00:27:50 So now Netflix is mostly about that as are all of these streaming services. And by the way, that's why YouTube subscriptions have been buried for years. Right. For this principle that like, it's not what you, your stated intention, it's your actual actions that are the telltale signs
Starting point is 00:28:13 of what's gonna work and then what we can sell the most against. And this is actually, this illustrates, I'm gonna make a political, or I guess you could call it a political point at this point. Because this is an example of why when profit is the primary motive behind a process,
Starting point is 00:28:37 it doesn't, I mean, I grew up, you know, conservative guy who thought that this idea of the free market and the fact that everybody being motivated by money will ultimately bring out the best possible outcome, right? Like a pure capitalistic view. I've sensed- Competition makes everything better.
Starting point is 00:28:55 I've sensed recalibrated that view. And I'm not well versed on these issues, but just there's so many examples in modern society of how profit being the goal causes things to, first of all, it causes a lot of people to suffer. I'm not saying anybody's suffering in this situation necessarily, but speaking of Facebook and all social media in general,
Starting point is 00:29:17 we've seen that this whole idea of keeping people on the platform and keeping people watching ads has led to this incredible political polarization in our country as was very well explored in the, what was it, the Social Dilemma documentary on Netflix. But this is just an example of profit being the motivation
Starting point is 00:29:36 leading to a very bad product. This like, this hasn't led to a great product. This has led to something that truly sucks in every sense of the word. Fake prank videos that are, fake prank videos suck, period. Fake prank videos that are drawn out for three minutes in order to make a profit for the person
Starting point is 00:29:57 who has decided to make a living in this way are awesome. Suck squared. Which makes it kind of awesome. And so. I might get back on Facebook. So I'm just making the point that that isn't the case. I think that what makes the human collective better and is beneficial to all of us is a better motivator than profit.
Starting point is 00:30:17 But again, off the soapbox. As a side note, I mean, arguably our entire career and success post Good Mythical Morning or during, well, we're still doing Good Mythical Morning, but post the launch of Good Mythical Morning is based on this algorithmic phenomenon of watch time as well, you know?
Starting point is 00:30:38 Yeah, but we benefit from this. We didn't know that, you know? We wanted to have a conversation, we formatted a show, we made something that we were proud of and our team is committed to excellence and doing the best we can. And so very quickly we arrived at, to have a meaningful conversation,
Starting point is 00:30:59 you were at the 12 minute mark, but we were actually cautioned to not go far beyond the 10 minute mark. But then YouTube changed, you know, from emphasizing subscriptions to watch time and rewarding that. So, you know, we made the best product, which, you know, started getting,
Starting point is 00:31:19 broke 10 minutes, got closer to 15 minutes and people stuck around and they watched the whole thing. And so we were rewarded because we rewarded the viewer and they just kept binge watching. We had so many of the episodes that everybody won in that situation. Well, it's an example of the content being motivated by the system and the profit,
Starting point is 00:31:44 but making a product that fits within that system that hasn't compromised itself for the sake of the profit. We didn't know about the principle when we were formatting Good Mythical Morning. But now as we're reformatting Good Mythical Morning and creating cuts for Facebook, Now, as we're reformatting Good Mythical Morning and creating cuts for Facebook, or making new sketches that we put on Instagram, we absolutely have to take into account
Starting point is 00:32:16 what's the threshold to be able to monetize. I mean, we can't just make videos and not be able to, and then the platform refused to run ads against them. So Facebook, you know, that three minute mark means a lot to us too. So if you're watching on Facebook, and by the way, that's how my mom watches Good Mythical Morning. So every time I talk to her, another thing she'll say,
Starting point is 00:32:38 she'll say, I've been watching more of your show lately. And she'll talk about a video and I'll be like, well, that video is like four years old, mom. She's like, I was like, you need to look at our hairstyles to really figure it out because the way that Facebook will serve it up is it's seemingly random. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:57 You know, once you watch an old one and it may be sometimes we repost stuff. Right. But the main thing we're doing is we make cuts of Good Mythical Morning, cut downs we call it, that break the three minute mark, but that work within the Facebook environment.
Starting point is 00:33:13 But again, they break the three minute mark, but because they're 12, 15 minute episodes. And that's easy. It's an easy thing to cut it down. It's something that we're proud of. The place that we kind of relate to this a little bit is Instagram. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:26 IGTV, there's monetization there as well. It's in its infancy and it's not that significant. But the threshold for monetization on Instagram is two minutes. So the way that we try to address that is not by taking a concept that, I think the thing that all these videos, these prank videos that I just talked about,
Starting point is 00:33:49 especially the alligator one and the bike thief one, you could tell this story in a much more compelling way in about 30 seconds. 35 seconds. 30 seconds, right? Yeah. Now, we create sketches that from the conceptualization and the writing and the execution of the sketches is like, okay, is this a concept that makes sense in two minutes? We don't stretch anything out.
Starting point is 00:34:16 So yes, we are playing this game because we're not, and this is a business. And so we're not going to take the time to dress up and be characters and make this video just for kicks. It's part of the, we're like, oh, if we can make this thing two minutes long, we can actually get paid to do it, okay. So let's make it two minutes long.
Starting point is 00:34:35 But we have artistic pride. Well, somewhat. I mean, yeah, that is questionable sometimes. No, we do. No, we do. We are, this is that is questionable sometimes. No, we do, we do. We are, this is something that we've always been, I've always felt dirty about the system. And even, I mean, I think the best example of this
Starting point is 00:34:56 is the titling and thumb nailing of YouTube videos, which is a whole conversation that we can have, but just to quickly cover it, the reason that our thumbnails on YouTube look the way that they do is not because we think that they look good. I mean, just to be frank with you, I do not like to see me making faces that close up.
Starting point is 00:35:22 I don't like it. I hate it. I'm pretty close to you right now. This is like, I mean, I don't even have to extend my arm all the way to poke your eye out. That's how close I am sitting to you. And this is the approximation of how close, if you were recreating the thumbnail experience
Starting point is 00:35:41 in real life. Yeah. And I think psychologically, if you're making, look at me, look at me and do it. Yeah, if you're this close to me making faces like that. You wanna slap me. And you're about to eat something. You wanna slap me.
Starting point is 00:35:54 It's like, why would you make eye contact with me while eating at this close of a range, much less when making that face you're making. So I want to- Like that's not- I wanna slap me too. It's not human, man. Every time I see one of our GMM thumbnails,
Starting point is 00:36:09 I want to slap me or you, whoever's featured. And I am assuming lots of people feel the same way, but you know what? They gotta thumbs up, thumbs down. They should add a slap. Through doing this for a decade and fine tuning that- We're slaves to that. What we have determined is that that style of thumbnail,
Starting point is 00:36:28 and there's a lot of different factors that go into that style of thumbnail working, is what gets us the most views, right? And so yeah, like you said, we've got artistic integrity, but we do play the game, we are willing to compromise. We do A-B testing on both titles and thumbnails every single morning. It's like, hey, this one's not really catching.
Starting point is 00:36:49 We think we need to change this word to this. That's why if you watch from the very beginning every day, you'll see some changes because hey, this is a game we're trying to play, we're trying to win and we're playing within the system. We personally are not involved in that because I just cannot, even talking about it is demoralizing. Makes me mad, yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:05 But the one thing that we couldn't do is make that prank video. No. I just couldn't, I just, you know, so we've checked some pride at the door. We try to maintain some integrity though, because while I do want to slap you when I see you in a thumbnail, and also myself, so it goes both ways,
Starting point is 00:37:24 what I'm doing in the thumbnail, what you're doing in the thumbnail is not misleading. It is indicative of what they're gonna see in the video. And the title is also indicative. There may be sometimes it's a little sensational, maybe a little bit of a misleading thing, but as a principle, it is supposed to be indicative because we understand that there's a long-term relationship
Starting point is 00:37:45 that we have with our audience. And if we begin to mislead the audience and take you as a bunch of fools, you're not gonna stick around for very long. So we have a history with prank videos, you know, as creators, as artists. And we, you know, we just couldn't bear to keep it up. Now I will say, one of our first videos
Starting point is 00:38:12 is trimming strangers nose hairs at the mall. Now this was made before YouTube existed because we were making videos, when we were involved in crew and we were hosting the, or emceeing the regional Christmas conference, we'd make comedy videos. We talked about this in the last years.
Starting point is 00:38:33 And that's where this video came from, from the, I think it was the Greensboro Mall. Cause it was the Christmas conference was in Greensboro. And you know, it's just one of the, hey, we need to make a video. We made sketches, we were writing songs, but we would also do prank videos. It was just a genre that you did, but we really did it.
Starting point is 00:38:56 We really took a nose trimmer to the mall and wore these, I mean, you can look it up on the Rhett and Link YouTube channel and watch it, but I think, I'm pretty sure it's still public. It shouldn't be, it's horrible. But the thing that's not horrible, that the redemptive value is that you can tell that we really went up to strangers
Starting point is 00:39:18 and trimmed their nose hairs. People would, you could talk people into doing that. Right. I mean, and there's, it's implied that we're just going around the mall doing this. So I'm about to trim your nose hairs and I've just trimmed, who knows how many other people's nose hairs.
Starting point is 00:39:34 With the same device. It was heinous. Yeah. But it never crossed our minds that we would fake it. It was just like, that's the beauty of it. The beauty of it was getting the real reaction from people. Yeah, and the fact- That's what we were into. The fact that we really did it. I mean, for me, whenever we'd come up
Starting point is 00:39:52 with something like that, I'm like, this is go time. We've gotta show that we got the balls to do this. And to your credit, you were right there with me, but there was a lot more inner turmoil with you than there was with me. I could just switch off my conscience. Yeah, I don't like messing with people. And say, I have to make this work.
Starting point is 00:40:11 I would say that- Because I have, you know, we've gotta make a funny video. We've gotta do this. It's not just that. It's not that you have a stronger commitment to making a funny video. I think it's that you are much more comfortable in life in general in making people uncomfortable.
Starting point is 00:40:29 So I'm- I don't, and I don't know what this says about me, but like I can't, I have a real difficult time making people feel uncomfortable. That's why I do the sympathetic laughing. You know, like if you watch when we have guests and people point this out, like when we have guests, when we used to have guests on GMM before COVID,
Starting point is 00:40:47 we will have them again. I'll laugh at everything they say, because there's this, and again, it's called, I think it's just called sympathetic laughing. And it's basically you laugh to subtly communicate that you're not a threat and trying to make the person feel comfortable, right? I find myself doing that.
Starting point is 00:41:06 I find it interesting that in this conversation, you're the one who's a little more on the defensive than me, but I'm basically the one who is like in these videos, much more the willing jackass. Like I watched that stuff back and I don't wanna be that person anymore. It starts to eat away at who you are. If you know, cause I guess I, so I've kind of switched.
Starting point is 00:41:31 But for the sake of these kinds of videos, it's better to be that way though. Sure, but my point is that was one of the factors that took us away from doing prank videos. The other one was, yeah, cause it just starts to make both of us feel icky inside. I think- To take advantage of people. I think my theory is that it was a cultural change
Starting point is 00:41:55 that took place. Not that prank videos are not still a thing, but there's a generational change. And especially when all the other content that you make is generally nice and good hearted. Like, you know, we try to uplift people. We're not, our comedy is not cynical. The observations that we try to make about people
Starting point is 00:42:16 are not demoralizing or derogatory in general. So then, but we still have this really, like we're fascinated with people and we do both enjoy putting people into uncomfortable situations. And that's what our local commercials were in a lot of ways, right? We were walking this line.
Starting point is 00:42:34 Yeah, but screwing with people at the dirt track race, like with a fake survey, like remember that video we made? That's a lot harder for me. It's much easier for me to try to- You're lying to people. Right, to try to push. So you can laugh at them. But like, but it's a much finer line with the local commercials because we're doing something that is like,
Starting point is 00:42:50 this is gonna benefit your business and we're also collaborating. This is an idea that you either came up with or you've bought into, but we're gonna stand here and get you to say this line knowing that it's gonna be funny for reasons that you may not fully understand. I'm much more comfortable with that,
Starting point is 00:43:04 but when I have to be literally interacting with somebody on camera and it's just harder funny for reasons that you may not fully understand. I'm much more comfortable with that. But when I have to like be literally interacting with somebody on camera and it's just harder for me to do. There's a cultural shift, but at the same time, there's not. These videos are still going like tens of millions of views on Facebook. They're all fake. They're not all fake.
Starting point is 00:43:19 I mean, and you look at the success of the Impractical Jokers. Now that's an older audience. That's not like this- I think it's generational. The savvy feeling sorry for people younger audience. My kids love Impractical Jokers. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong.
Starting point is 00:43:32 But a lot of teenagers don't. I've never watched it, but I think that they, they make themselves the butt of the joke a lot of the time, am I right? They're primarily trying to embarrass one another as friends. And they, and if. It's much more about that than it is about
Starting point is 00:43:47 making people feel bad. They never leave the lie. But then even if they make somebody feel bad, they let them in on the joke at the end, I think. They don't, they may do that in real life. That is a principle of like the big. But they don't do that. It's not like, Candy Camera always ended, like the old Candy Camera show always ended with,
Starting point is 00:44:04 hey man, I'm just joking. There's a hidden camera. There's a hidden camera. They don't do that on Impractical Jokers. They may do that off camera, but they don't make that part of the bit. It's just not a part of it. I think the last prank video we made
Starting point is 00:44:18 just broke our spirit. And we were like, never again will we do this. And so now if we haven't done it before, there's a confession to make. I feel like we need to make the confession upfront because it'll make watching the video and make an analysis of it that much more insightful. This video is called Invisible Dog Prank
Starting point is 00:44:38 released on our Rhett and Link channel. It's about to break 2 million views. It was released February 26th, 2013. And there are elements of this video that were faked. Now, this video was a sponsor. I don't know how sorry I am yet. We need to talk it through. This video was sponsored.
Starting point is 00:45:02 And there were these new headphones from, was it DTS? DTS. DTS. Yeah, DTS had these new headphones called X Technology. It was 3D like surround sound. And so we were gonna go to their headquarters, which was out west of here. And the idea was let's make a video
Starting point is 00:45:26 where to demonstrate how realistic this 3D sound is, we're going to make people think that there is a dog about to attack them from behind while they're doing, I don't even know what we had told them we were gonna do. We'll figure that out in the video. Let's watch, you will watch the video together. But yeah, I remember why we constructed this concept and then sold it to DTS,
Starting point is 00:45:52 but we can talk about that afterwards. So let's just, it's a three minute 42 second video. So hey, it could go on Facebook. It's 42 seconds longer than it needs to be. All right. This is Bullet. He's actually a pretty nice dog. But he's been trained to do this.
Starting point is 00:46:08 Gonna make people think they're being attacked by him. But it'll just be in their headphones. Here's the setup. DTS has developed a technology that creates a realistic 3D-like surround sound experience through just a pair of headphones. But our test subjects don't know that. They think they're just coming in for a hearing test
Starting point is 00:46:24 in a focus group. Yeah, and this is at their studio, at the DTS facility. We were playing DTS employees. That's why we had the shirts on. Yeah, like testing the technology. We have bullet bark at them. Scary dog. In the middle of our lame test,
Starting point is 00:46:39 we introduced the surround sound of bullet attacking them from behind. But when they turn around, there's no dog. It's just a grumpy looking cat named Perfect. So first of all, we also got- Is that Grumpy Cat? No, it's a Grumpy Cat lookalike. May he rest in peace.
Starting point is 00:46:56 Did Grumpy Cat- Perfect. Was Grumpy Cat a thing at that point? Oh yeah, oh yeah. So we didn't come up with Grumpy Cat. No. Don't wanna give us that much credit. But it's like, you think it's a dog then you turn and see a cat.
Starting point is 00:47:06 This is a fun, fun prank. However, here's what happened. On the day, now the funny thing is- Not on the day, in planning. Well- On planning we were like, this video has to work. Yeah. So we need some insurance that if we don't get reactions that are, you know,
Starting point is 00:47:29 shareable and buzzworthy, we have to have a plan B to ensure that. So, you know, we were adamant that we were gonna conduct the prank legitimately. Now, I don't know if I'm just as me moralizing in my own head, but that is not how I remember it. What I remember- I know that's what we did. And then what we would do, I don't know if I'm just as me moralizing in my own head, but that is not how I remember it. What I remember- I know that's what we did.
Starting point is 00:47:47 And then what we would do, I need to watch, as we watch it, I might be able to pick out people. But I think what we did was we would get people to- We just got people to do it twice. We got people to do it again. We got them legitimately the first time. Yep, and then if it wasn't good enough. We said, hey, let's do that.
Starting point is 00:48:03 We're gonna do that again. Now you know what's gonna happen. And just really like when you hear the dog bark, just really react like you're scared. And we were like, hopefully enough of these people will react in a way that's believable and we'll pepper those things in. But there was a hope even while I was there.
Starting point is 00:48:19 Yeah. There was a hope that we wouldn't have to use any of that stuff. We wouldn't have to resort to- It was an insurance policy. To directing anybody. Yeah, so it was definitely a plan B. The only difference in my mind is that we wouldn't have to use any of that stuff. We wouldn't have to resort to directing anybody. Yeah, so it was definitely a plan B. The only difference in my mind is that we came up with that
Starting point is 00:48:29 on the day when we saw that people weren't reacting great, as opposed to we planned it like weeks ahead of time. That's the only thing I remember differently is that we were like, they're not reacting that great. Let's just, well, let's just get them to do it again and maybe we'll use it. It felt like we were really easing into it. And I will say this is totally on us
Starting point is 00:48:45 because no one who works for us now, not even Stevie worked for us when we made this video. Yeah, she did. She had just started. This was February, 2013. And I think we hired her between filming this and editing this. So she wasn't there during the-
Starting point is 00:49:03 Or between getting the job and filming it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was like one of the first things that she was involved with, but she may have just been involved with it. I don't know if she was there that day. She may have just been involved with the edit, but- But she wasn't making,
Starting point is 00:49:14 she wasn't part of these type of decisions that we were making. Not at the time, no. We were very adamant that we, I'm sure we were, that we wanted to do the best we could to actually scare people. Oh yeah. And then we just had a plan B.
Starting point is 00:49:29 Cause fake pranks existed at the time. All right, so let's watch it and we can, see if I can pick out the places where it's fake. We've been that first one, this girl right here says, oh my God, I think that was fake. What's your name? Edwin. Okay, so we got the first guy coming in.
Starting point is 00:49:45 I'm gonna do a little audio test today. And the dog is, why is there a dog in the studio? You know, there's dogs in studios. We were trying to set a mental cue that, okay, there is a dog here that might attack you. So he was afraid of the dog right then, because the dog starts barking whenever you walk through the door.
Starting point is 00:50:02 Yeah, yeah. All right, just put those on. Okay. And just make that comfortable. Let's do it. Hello, thank you for participating in the DTS audio preliminary sound. Now this guy.
Starting point is 00:50:13 I love watching these. They're obviously real people. Right. They don't come across as actors in any way. But this guy is an actor. This guy was on Workaholics. Really? And multiple things.
Starting point is 00:50:26 There's a one minute mark. Cause here's what happens, and this is an interesting phenomenon with prank videos in general, and I think people talk about this in the comments. In LA, when you put a call out for people to come be a part of any kind of focus group, you get people who also are actors and extras.
Starting point is 00:50:43 And so it's just because it's Los Angeles and that's what a lot of people do. And so it makes it seem like we hired actors because this guy and at least a few other people are actors. PS Audio preliminary sound perception test. We will begin by testing your hearing fidelity in each ear. If you hear a tone in your left ear, raise your left hand. If you hear it in your right ear, raise your right hand.
Starting point is 00:51:01 They're very serious. Pause it. He's an actor too. Hold on, that guy. The guy with the mustache. The guy with the mustache at a minute and 10 seconds. He's in something. Yeah. A Tim and Eric thing, I think.
Starting point is 00:51:16 Yeah. For this next portion of the test, we will be testing your audio visual location perception. You will hear a tone and its perceived location will move from side to side. See, we're really getting them. Follow the perceived location of the tone with only your eyes.
Starting point is 00:51:34 Oh, see, there's Jason. Yeah, Jason was still working for us then. They're following with their eyes. Here comes the cat in a basket. Doesn't look like a real cat, but it is. See, she knows this is silly. Thank you. For this next portion of the test,
Starting point is 00:51:55 we will measure your frequency range perception. You will hear a series of tones varying in volume and pitch and you will be asked to give specific responses to a series of questions. Oh my God, what the, oh my, I'm sorry, that scared the out of me. Okay, was that real or fake? I don't know, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:52:10 But it was so good though, she was so good. Yeah, I don't know. All right, this guy. That was real. That was totally real. That guy shaking was real, man. In this next portion of the test, we will measure your frequency range perception.
Starting point is 00:52:25 You will hear a series of tones. This guy's chill. There's no way he's gonna react. You will be asked to get to the- Oh, we did the old slow-mo replay. All right, pause it. Now that guy threw the chair. Fake.
Starting point is 00:52:40 I don't remember. I gotta say, I remember telling him, because he was so chill, he didn't remember. I gotta say, I remember telling him, because he was so chill, he didn't respond. We were like, now, like you said, you see what's up now, we were playing a joke on you. Can you do it again? And again, it's not that we were getting actors, but all these people who respond
Starting point is 00:53:00 to all these focus group things are actors. So it actually played into their psyche to get direction to do something again. They all took it so, yeah. And I remember saying, I mean, maybe you throw the chair. Maybe you throw the chair, just for a little idea. I feel so dirty now, man. That's real. That's real.
Starting point is 00:53:24 Oh my God, that scared me so bad. Yeah, see, because she didn't even look. That's real. That's real. Oh my God, that scared me so bad. Yeah, see, because she didn't even look. Because she just. Yeah, that was real. That scared the out of me, man. I thought the dog was like up on the ground. Workaholics guy.
Starting point is 00:53:36 I'm allergic to cats. Is this bad? See. I thought I was being attacked by a dog. Remember we saw Jeremy Shepard when I came in? I thought I was being attacked by a dog. Remember we saw a German Shepherd when I came in? I remember. This is the guy from Tim and Eric. Remember we saw the German Shepherd when I came in. Oh.
Starting point is 00:53:54 I was getting young. Yeah. Oh my God, why would y'all do that to me? Well here we are laughing at it. Oh my God. That was fake. Robot cat. Really? That seemed real.
Starting point is 00:54:09 If you thought a dog was attacking you, you wouldn't sit in the chair. You just told him that was a robot cat and the guy was like, really? It's like a real cat. Technology. Yeah. He did a prank on a prank. Yeah. Are you serious?
Starting point is 00:54:22 What's the most scared you've ever been in your life prior to today? My hands are shaking. When my girl's pregnancy test came out pregnant. And she's like 60. Oh, that's a joke. We should hang out. Yeah, you're cool, man. I might have peed a little, but I'm all right.
Starting point is 00:54:42 All right, so first of all, there was no- Like sponsor. Well, because there was no sponsor language at the end because we, here's the thing. We were at a desperate point. You know, we were trying to scrap together a living. We'd started Good Mythical Morning, but like we weren't making money off of it really.
Starting point is 00:55:01 So it was, I'm just saying, we were a bit desperate to feed our families. Don't hold this against us. But you know, the final product that we created was not icky. It actually had a good feeling. But which one is worse? It felt good, right?
Starting point is 00:55:17 From a moral perspective. Now let's just really explore this. Which one is worse? One that most intelligent people believe was real, but was fake. Or ones that the person who makes the video is already dealt with the fact that they make prank videos and they get fake prank videos
Starting point is 00:55:37 and they constantly get accused of it, but they just keep making the videos. And there's a bit of a knowingness between them and the audience that this is all fake, but you're still watching it. Which one's more morally wrong? I just. I know which one's a worse video.
Starting point is 00:55:52 The ones that the Facebook video. The whole knowing this thing, I just don't think that's legitimate across the board. I agree, I'm just playing devil's advocate. So I don't think this is a fair question because, I mean, I never talked to Roman Atwood about his switch. You know, he really made a name for himself with his prank videos, pranking his own family
Starting point is 00:56:13 and I think other people too. But then he totally switched it to just like a family vlogger promoting positivity and- And then he totally stopped making videos. I don't know why he made, he did? He's not making videos at all? He made like a couple in the past year. I mean, talk about a guy, you know,
Starting point is 00:56:30 talk about running the YouTube gauntlet, like starting out with prank videos and then trying to figure out what makes people angry when they watch it. Like, I mean, you know, there's people who, it's just mean-spirited taking advantage of people. There's lots of stuff done in poor taste. And I'm not talking about Roman Atwood,
Starting point is 00:56:48 I'm just talking about prank videos. But he was, a guy like him in that world, like we sidestepped that world. We just dabbled in it with this one video really once we had a sizable audience. But then he jumps over to family vlogging, which is another death gauntlet of personal health. Where you end up basically-
Starting point is 00:57:12 I don't know his story, but that's my observation. But you end up applying the same principles. If you're doing family vlogging and you're good at it, you're making a reality show and everybody knows that reality shows are fake. And so the situation, I'm not saying that, and I'm sure that that line gets super confusing and super gray of like, okay, well,
Starting point is 00:57:31 let's set this up like this. It's kind of actually happening, but we need to do it this way for the camera. Like that kind of stuff happens, but. It could eat away at your soul, but the prank thing is just seedy. I mean, I love Ed Bassmaster. Like I've always been a fan of his, he's still around,
Starting point is 00:57:48 but his pranks were always real. We used him in a video as well. You know, and I consider him a friend. Like if I saw him now, I would just be elated to give the guy a hug. And the way that I enjoy Ed's videos at this point is through Instagram. I follow him on Instagram and his videos come up
Starting point is 00:58:07 and it's like snippets from what he does on YouTube. And you know, he's still doing it. He'll get me spirited. It's still funny to me. But the heart and soul of it is his characterization and getting people's response to him and not just, it's not first about putting people in compromised positions where it's like, it feels icky.
Starting point is 00:58:31 Well, I mean, I think he'll go there. But there's an example that you're familiar with because I'm familiar with it. And I don't know how much, I don't think there's much crossover between our audience and their audience. But because I have a teenage son, I know about NELK, N-E-L-K, rhymes with Belk.
Starting point is 00:58:49 And these guys, it's a group of guys from Canada and their videos are so- Full send, I would call them full send. They're the full send guys. That full send brand is their deal. And their videos are so, let's just say distasteful, according to the YouTube ad system that they can't monetize any of their content,
Starting point is 00:59:16 but they have long since accepted the fact that they- Over the edge. They're not going to worry about that. They make their money through, I guess, brand deals and merch and that kind of thing. Like they would prank cops by drinking non-alcoholic beer while driving vehicles and getting pulled over. Getting pulled over.
Starting point is 00:59:35 And then like. Baiting cops to pull them over. So that feels icky. Now, first of all, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you that. It's not hidden camera stuff, it's like doc style. If you consider yourself a Rhett and Link fan and you're into the concept of mythicality and your general disposition in the world
Starting point is 00:59:52 is to like make people's lives better and to be nice to people, you might even be offended by the fact that we're even talking about these guys. They went out on a Bigfoot hunt, but then they put one of the guys in a obviously fake Bigfoot costume and then baited this guy.
Starting point is 01:00:13 Yeah. I mean, I think to the point where, I think their main joke was that he was gonna have sex with Bigfoot. Well, one of them was, you know, basically taken advantage of by Bigfoot and then he comes back. Oh gosh.
Starting point is 01:00:30 So first of all, let me just be very clear again, I feel like we have to, we need to do this. It's that I'm not endorsing these guys. I know we're talking about them and some people will go watch them. They've got plenty of views, they don't need our help. They are offensive. They will offend, if you are offended by,
Starting point is 01:00:49 basically any way that you can be offended, you will be offended by these guys. So that is my warning to you, don't go watch them. If watching people make jokes that make fun of all kinds of groups of people. I only watch the video you showed me. This is on you, but I will say. And listen, I'd say I've watched four of their videos
Starting point is 01:01:14 in my lifetime. So I'm just putting a disclaimer out there that you're gonna get offended. You're probably offended that I'm even talking about them if you know what they do. Just, I feel like I have to say that. I'm grateful that we're not in a place when we feel like we have to justify ourselves
Starting point is 01:01:30 to do more prank videos where we're like mitigating our risk by rigging it and feeling icky inside and then saying, we're not gonna say anything about this to anybody, right? Because that was a conversation that we had. It's like everybody who's involved now, you can't say that we rigged this because, you know, that's gonna erode any trust that people have in us across the board.
Starting point is 01:01:52 It's what we felt like. It's all on the table at this point. Would we do it? You know, do we regret doing that? Making that video? I think so. I mean, I do, but it's also, it was 2013. Like you said, it was extenuating circumstances.
Starting point is 01:02:05 We didn't end up making a habit of it. We knew that it was a one-time thing and we actually made sort of an unspoken decision at that point to be like, let's not ever do a prank video again, because we understand the forces at play when you make a video and you're like, I want it to be a great video.
Starting point is 01:02:21 And if you really want it to be a great video, you'll end up faking things in order to make it a great video, if you're us. So it's like, we try to keep ourselves from that. And we know we're not willing to push people as far as like Nelk would push people to get the real crazy reactions. So it kind of just puts you in a no man's land where you either do something that's gonna be offensive to a large portion of the population,
Starting point is 01:02:46 or you do something like from a true offense standpoint, or you're gonna do something that's artistically so bad that it's offensive. So we just are like, we're not gonna do either of those things. Let's just stay out of that world altogether and make content that, you know, is mostly wholesome. Mostly wholesome, mythical.
Starting point is 01:03:08 I think we can leave it at that. I don't know if I feel any better, but at least it's out there. Hey, we trust you to do with that information what you will and maybe that doesn't include unsubscribing. Yeah. Unsubscribe. And I will just say for those of you who are gonna be offended at me
Starting point is 01:03:25 for giving a very lukewarm endorsement of Nelk after you go and watch their videos, don't go watch their videos. I'm not giving, I'm saying don't go watch their videos. Yeah, that's a good idea. How about that? How's that for an endorsement? I also have a rec, so let's do that.
Starting point is 01:03:44 So. It's Nelk, right? I also have a rec, so let's do that. So- It's Nelk, right? It's not Nelk. It's something called Meat Church. Meat Church. That sounds even more problematic. This is a guy named Matt Pittman, who's, I follow his Instagram, Meat Church.
Starting point is 01:04:00 I think he's down in Texas, maybe Austin or outside of Austin. And a lot of people have asked me, where did you get the recipe? Give me the recipe for your Nashville hot chicken. Well, I just got it from Meat Church. You just click on their Linktree link in the Instagram profile and it brings up all the recipes.
Starting point is 01:04:22 It also takes you to the store where he sells all kinds of like rubs and there's a rub that's used, there's a dredge that's used in that process and the recipe. This is also where I got the recipe for how I did- Green bean casserole? How I've done some ribs and brisket and that kind of thing.
Starting point is 01:04:43 He's basically, he's got a YouTube channel. Anyway, that's where I got the recipe from. If you're into smoking, barbecuing meats. I'm getting hungry right now. Check out Meat Church. And I do recommend all the products because you can go to certain places and get recipes for your own rubs,
Starting point is 01:05:01 which I kind of, I respect the make your own rub game, but it's easier to just buy your own rub. So that's what I find to be more convenient and he's got some good rubs. Meet Church on Instagram. Yeah, I mean, I think it's also just a website. Just if you search Meet Church, it'll come up. Hashtag Ear Biscuits.
Starting point is 01:05:19 Let us know what you think about this. Join the conversation and as always, follow us on Twitter at Mythical. And heck, follow us on Facebook too if you wanna get some good Mythical cut downs. But on Twitter, we put out questions that we then discuss on this show. If you wanna be a part of it and get a shout out,
Starting point is 01:05:37 follow us at Mythical and hashtag your biscuits.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.